Midland Red West (First Midland Red)
Mercedes-Benz L508D — Overview
Acquired with the business of Midland Red Coaches
1405 (R/No: A669XDA)
A669XDA was a Mercedes-Benz L508D mini-coach with a DP19F Reeves Burgess body acquired by Midland Red West Limited on 23rd December 1986 with the business of Midland Red Coaches Limited.
Under the control of Midland Red West Limited, A669XDA was delicensed and sent to Carlyle Works to be converted for bus work. A destination blind, one-man operation equipment and a power operated door were fitted which required two seats to be removed making it DP17F. The vehicle was repainted into yellow, red and orange “Reddilink” livery, relicensed and entered service at Redditch depot on Tuesday 7th April 1987, with the fleet number 1405.
1405 was the only example of a Mercedes-Benz L508D to be operated by Midland Red West, and was unpopular with drivers. Having only seventeen seats made it a poor substitute for the Mercedes-Benz L608D minibuses, which were operated by Midland Red West in large numbers. In 1989, it was moved to Birmingham (Digbeth) depot as a spare vehicle and driver trainer, then finally to Kidderminster depot where it was used on the local Kidderminster Service 7 to Green Hill and for driver training. She survived long enough with Midland Red West to be repainted into the standard bus livery of red and cream, and was finally withdrawn in November 1995, being store at Worcester (Padmore Street) depot for a short time before being scrapped.